Chapter 224 – [Hero] Last Night
“… Sir.”
Someone calls me
“Hero!”
When I opened my eyes, I was lying on a bed in a house that wasn’t on the street from a moment ago.
“You are awake!”
She held my hand and shed tears.
“Do you know how long you have been asleep? Almost 100 years…”
“… What are you doing?”
The woman who held my hand and shed tears of emotion was Sera.
“Ah, that’s not fun.”
She suddenly changed her expression as if it was all acting until just now.
“Am I sleeping?”
“Well, to be precise, it should be considered a fainting state.”
Faint…
Yes, I passed out after defeating Luella.
“Oh that…”
“I know.”
Sara said in a calm tone.
“Because the marble Louella gave her is broken.”
Marble?
“It’s like some kind of communication device, but if it’s broken, it must mean that she no longer has her magical power left to operate it. She always didn’t use her magic more than necessary, and if she was pushed that far…”
Saying that, she looked at me.
“I can only think of one thing. And even though you fainted, you are alive and well.”
“Okay.”
Sarah was silent for a moment and asked.
“Is he dead?”
“… Maybe.”
I explained to her what had happened.
“… Fool.”
This is how she felt after hearing the story.
“Perhaps she didn’t want to see it.”
“What?”
When I was puzzled, she said with a complicated face.
“If the Demon King decides to die, we can’t stop it. All I can do is, at best, interfere a little like Luella.”
As the demon king prepared for his death, Ruella had to prepare for the separation.
But in the end, she didn’t want to accept it.
“To see the demon lord die… She wouldn’t want to see it.”
“Okay…”
“That’s why it’s stupid. The last order he left us wasn’t to ask us to die together.”
After all, she wants to die with him.
In order to die with the demon king who will face the end in any way.
“I wonder if he’ll like a woman who doesn’t even listen to his orders, even if he dies.”
She laughed jokingly as she said that, but was it because her colleague was dead?
Sera’s smile was a bit sad, unlike usual.
“Anyway, there’s nothing stopping you now.”
“… Yes.”
All that remains is the Demon King.
“Is there any good way?”
A question everyone asks once in a while.
There is no such thing as a plan, I just came to the castle of the devil according to my feelings…
“Perhaps.”
I feel like I know something now.
“Really?”
She smiled, tilting her head slightly.
“Has anyone really thought of that?”
“Do you know what I am thinking?”
“No, I don’t know… I just did it.”
Saying that, Sarah laughed.
“Well, I didn’t mean to panic… I was telling you to be careful.”
“Yes.”
She knew that she was cheering for herself.
Because Sarah is such a person.
“… Hmm.”
“Why, why?”
Suddenly, when she came closer, I flinched and threw her back.
“No, somehow… I think you are thinking cheeky.”
“That’s arrogant…”
“Huh, I’m not so immature that a kid like you could see through it.”
Seo, did you really understand what I was thinking for a while?
My face blushed slightly and she nudged my cheek with her tail.
Sera’s tail, which stabbed her cheek, came down little by little, slipped through my clothes, and went down even further.
“Ugh!”
“Oh, quite…”
“Ha, don’t!”
She let out a strange moan as I grabbed her by the tail and whipped it out.
“It’s weak there.”
“…”
I froze for a moment at her unexpected reaction.
“Ahahaha! Acting like you’re sleeping with a girl for the first time.”
She kept poking my chest with her tail as if she was having fun.
“What… Anyway, it will all be over tomorrow.”
“… Yes.”
I had no choice but to stay overnight in front of the castle.
Originally, I wanted to finish it all today.
“Next time… I don’t know if I’ll see you next time.”
She said that and rose from her seat.
“I’ll be waiting for you.”
“Yes?”
Sarah jerked her body around, her tail wagging in front of me.
“… May you return safely.”
Dreams are scattered
Even through her blurred vision, I looked at her and said,
“Certainly… I will come back alive.”
I can’t die
Don’t die
***
“You are awake.”
In real bed.
I opened my eyes hearing Ertina’s voice.
“Here…”
“It’s the slum next door. I don’t know who the owner is, but I’m indebted to him for a while.”
It seemed to be the house of someone among the villagers who had been evacuated.
For a motel, I thought it was a room with a sense of life.
“Oh…”
“If you’re tired, it’s okay to lie down a little longer.”
“Oh, no. I don’t get sick or anything.”
Rather than being sick… It just stings for a while.
“Hey, I really…”
Ertina waited for my backstory.
“… Did you defeat Luella?”
“Yes, I succeeded in annihilating her by using her power in reverse.”
She said so calmly.
“It’s something we didn’t know. I can’t believe I was able to use the previous patterns, not this one. Even without any interaction.”
Her words were too blunt.
As if someone you didn’t know died.
“… Miss Ertina…”
“Are you worried about me? Are you okay. I’ve seen a lot of people I know die.”
There was considerable weight in her words as if it were not a big deal.
Unlike us, they said that they went around directing the battlefield.
I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of people die.
We had conversations several times, and we saw people we were close to dying…
Is that why Sera and Ertina are not so upset?
“Huh, you seem to be worried about the enemy.”
“Ah…”
It’s funny, actually.
Luella was originally an enemy to be defeated, and she was an undisputed enemy who stood in our way until the very end.
But the fact that she died, and that I ended it with my own hands, left something in her heart.
“Maybe this was the end she wanted.”
“… Yes.”
As Sera had told her, she might have wanted to die with the demon king.
For a moment we sat in silence, thinking of Luella.
“But at the last moment, she looked at the man.”
“… It was.”
Right before disappearing, her eyes were not on me, but on someone behind me.
“Would that be looking at a new demon lord?”
It’s a pity that I couldn’t see the back story, Luella said.
What is her back story that she wanted to see?
A future where Jeren becomes the Demon King and repeats her bondage once more?
Or not… A future where everything ends for the first and last time?
“… Well.”
Maybe there was something between Luella and him.
Because I felt like something subtle was going on.
However, the important thing is whether or not he will become the new demon king.
“What is he doing?”
“I am in another house. Here is… It’s a bit narrow.”
Surely… It doesn’t look like a very large house.
“It must have been the newlyweds’ house.”
“… That, that’s right.”
A man and a woman alone in a newlyweds’ house?
I know Ertina isn’t thinking that way, but for some reason… A little embarrassing
“Why are you like that?”
“Yes? Oh no, just…”
I felt even more ashamed to think that I was the only one having strange thoughts.
“Are you hot? Shall I open the window?”
“Oh no! Are you okay!”
As she tried to sneak up on her bed, I wiped her hand to stop her.
“Okay… Anyway, it turned out like this, so I’m going to take a break today. Even the Demon King won’t do anything while he’s asleep.”
“Yes, I guess.”
I hope he won’t suddenly kill me or something like that.
“Then, rest comfortably for today. Don’t worry, I’ll be by your side.”
“Yes… Uh, yes?”
What, what?
“Yes?”
“Uh… No, um…”
Did you hear me wrong?
But she just sat there, staring at me.
“Hey, Mr. Ertina is going to rest now…”
“I am resting.”
No, that’s…
“Don’t worry about me and rest in peace.”
“… Yes.”
No, you don’t mean to keep doing that, do you?
Unable to overcome her compulsion, I closed my eyes again and quickly fell asleep.
***
And when I woke up the next day, she was propped up on her bed, dozing lightly.
… Didn’t move here either.
I’m sorry that I made you worry about something.
So that I can sleep comfortably for at least a while…
Since I woke up, I put Ertina on the bed instead.
“Um…”
It looked like something big could be seen through her clothes, but no, I didn’t!
She laid her down and covered her with the blanket when she suddenly heard her knocking.
Smart.
“Oh that… D, come in.”
You’re not even the owner of the house.
Come to think of it, the person who will come has been decided, but the moment I was embarrassed, the honor guard jumped out again.
“… That’s why it doesn’t come out late…”
The person who came in hesitantly was Yuni.
As if she was uncomfortable seeing my face, she slightly lowered her gaze, but as she looked up at her, she was momentarily speechless.
“Oh sorry. I’ll be leaving soon.”
“…”
“UNI?”
Her wide-open eyes trembled.
Why?
Her gaze was not on me, but behind him.
Back…
I inadvertently followed her gaze and was startled to notice that Ertina lying on her bed and me waking up from sleep were visible by her bedside.
“Ahhh! This, this… !”
No, come to think of it, she and I are no longer in a relationship.
You don’t need to make excuses like the person who was caught cheating like this.
“… Rice, it’s nothing. Nursing because I fell…”
“Yeah, that’s right…”
Uni blushed slightly with her awkward face.
“… Ooh, we said we would, but he said no. She says she…”
“That, is it?”
Uni kept glancing at her, and she eventually slid back behind her door.
“Well then, I’ll wait outside…”
“Ah, yes…”
Thud.
Silence hung over the room.
“Um… Oh my… ? I’m sorry, I must have fallen asleep.”
And after she left, Ertina woke up belatedly.
“Did you put me down instead? Thank you.”
She looked at me and smiled.
“However… What happened? Your expression is strange.”
“… It’s nothing.”
I’m just more concerned
For some reason, it was difficult to look straight into her face as she just woke up.
